animal studies of attachment ☑️

animal studies of attachment

psychological studies carried out on animals to attempt to explain animal behaviour, or human behaviour through animal behaviour

-usually conducted by ethologists

evaluation of animal testing

basic strengths

-animal DNA can help treat cures (eg monoclonal bodies)

-more likely to display natural behaviours

-more socially acceptable than using humans + when using a new treatment when long term effects aren’t known

basic limitations

-very unethical (no informed consent, protection from physical or psychological harm, debriefs or ability to withdraw)

animal studies of attachment

konrad lorenz’ research (1959)

-first observed imprinting

procedure: conducted an experiment where a large clutch of goslings hatched either with their mother or in an incubator (with lorenz being the first moving object they saw)

findings: the incubator group followed lorenz everywhere whereas the control group followed their mother, even when mixed - known as imprinting. goslings were then established to have a critical period of between 13-16 hours after birth (begins at 13 hours)

-supports view that having a biological basis for attachment is adaptive as it promotes survival

animal studies of attachment

imprinting

imprinting- a critical period early in an animals life where it forms attachment + develops a concept of its own identity. if imprinting doesn’t occur within a given time frame (the critical period), attachment won’t occur at all and can have detrimental effects in the future.

sexual imprinting- lorenz observed that birds that imprinted on humans would often later display courtship behaviour towards humans. experminted at a zoo with peacocks and giant tortoises.

lorenz’s animal studies of attachment

evaluation: strengths

strengths

-research support: a study by lucia regolin and giorgio vallortigara (1955) supports lorenz’s idea of imprinting where chicks were expos r to simple shape combinations that moved. a range of shape combinations were then moved in front of them and they followed the original one most closely; supporting young animals are born with the innate mechanism to imprint on a moving object present in the critical window of development, as predicted by lorenz

lorenz study of attachment

evaluation: limitations

limitations

-limited ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans. the mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex that in birds (mammals attachment is a two way process where the mothers show an emotional attachment to their young, rather than just the young who becomes attached) so it might not be appropriate to generalise this to humans

animal studies of attachment

harry harlows research (1958)

procedure: caged 8 rhesus monkeys from infancy, in proximity of only wire mesh (food dispensing or cloth covered) surrogate mothers to investigate which of the two would have more attachment behaviours directed to it (by measuring time spent with each + time spent crying for biological mother)

findings: the baby monkeys cuddled the cloth-covered mother and sought comfort when frightened (from a noisy mechanical teddy) in preference to the plain mother; showing contact comfort was more important to the monkeys than food in relation to attachment behaviour

when placed in a novel toy room to explore, they were willing in the presence of the cloth-covered mother but hesitant and phobic when the mother was not in close proximity.

effects: harlow followed studied monkeys into adulthood to see if early maternal deprivation had a permanent effect and found severe consequences-monkeys reared with only plain mothers were most dysfunctional. they were

• more aggressive and less sociable

• breed less + being unskilled at mating

• neglecting their offspring / attacking

conclusion: rhesus monkeys have a 90-day critical period, where after this deprivation became irreversible.

harlow’s animal study of attachment

evaluation: strengths

strengths

-important to real world applications; helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes (howe 1998). we also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys in zoos and breeding programmes in the wild, meaning harlows research is theoretical and also practical

harlows animal study of attachment

evaluation: limitations

limitations

-limited generalisability for findings and conclusions from monkeys to humans. although rhesus monkeys are more similar to humans that birds and all mammals share common attachment behaviours. however the human brain and behaviour is still more complex than monkeys, meaning it may not be appropriate to generalise harlows findings to humans

counterpoint: green (1994) states all mammals have the same brain structures as humans on a biological level; only difference is size and number of connections.

-questionable on ethical grounds as animals reserve a right to not be harmed (no consent, ability to withdraw, debrief, and protection from harm; distress, long term effects and fear) the pursuit of academic conclusions for human benefit is detrimental to non human species.